Oberweis wants special prosecutor for IRS

GOP Senate candidate Jim Oberweis

Phil Velasquez Chicago Tribune

Phil Velasquez Chicago Tribune

Katherine SkibaTribune reporter

WASHINGTON — As a House committee probes whether the IRS unfairly targeted certain political groups, Illinois state Sen. Jim Oberweis, running for the U.S. Senate, called Tuesday for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the tax agency.

Oberweis, a Republican who is challenging Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., issued the call after revelations that some emails sent by former IRS official Lois Lerner have been lost. Lerner, who is now retired, led the IRS division that processed applications for tax-exempt status.

At issue is whether the agency unfairly targeted tea party and other political groups leading up to the 2010 and 2012 elections.

“The patience of the American people is wearing thin,” he said in a statement. “There is nothing more abusive to the people than an abusive Internal Revenue Service, and this administration has demonstrated it is incapable of getting to the bottom of the scandal.”

The IRS said Lerner’s computer crashed in 2011 and emails she had archived on the hard drive were lost. How many emails were lost is not known.

The IRS inspector general is investigating the emails that were lost, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told the oversight committee Monday.

Oberweis said it is “deeply suspicious” that IRS officials announced last week that crucial emails that are the subject of various investigations were said to be missing. He said Durbin should support his call for a special prosecutor.

Ron Holmes, a spokesman for Durbin's re-election campaign, had no comment.